Quote of the Week: Theodore Dalrymple

“Pessimists are of two types, the catastrophists, that is to say the types who look up in the starry heavens and see (metaphorically) only asteroids in the sky racing towards us to wipe us out as the dinosaurs were wiped out; and existential pessimists, that is to say those who see dissatisfaction as the permanent condition of mankind because of his inherent makeup, his contradictory desires and emotions, dissatisfaction that is perfectly compatible however with a great deal of enjoyment of life.”

-- Theodore Dalrymple, an English writer and a retired prison doctor and psychiatrist. He’s a contributing editor of the City Journal, published by the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research.